a podcast dedicated to casual geography and the spatial component of whatever

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This episode is the podcast equivalent of a little holiday cocktail chatter. It’s the first installment of our new series Bibelot-graphy, where we explore an odd urban curio.

Bibelot-graphy #1 documents the infamous “Me Love Rambo” billboard graffiti in Brooklyn, NY. This is one of my favorite unlikely urban landmarks and, whether you know it well or it’s new to you, I’m sure you’ll love this little weirdo as much as I do.

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On this episode, we’re collecting stories from the some of the great environmental justice victories in the US.

By environmental justice, we mean local efforts to overturn practices that have caused environmental degradation on a vulnerable population – often thanks to local organizing, the courts, and some help from the EPA.

Topics include the Cuyahoga River, which caught fire over a dozen times throughout the mid-20th century, due to industrial sludge being dumped there; the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, which was one of the first EPA Superfund sites; the strange killer pollution cloud that formed over Donora, PA; and the Bronx River project, which helped reverse almost 100 years of environmental neglect.

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What could be more spatial than the lines that combine and divide us to make up our political representative districts? On this episode, we will take just a peek at how we all get bundled together – or not – to get some representation – or not – in our legislative bodies. What is the makeup of our representation and is it fair and adequate? How did we get here and who is in charge? There has got to be a better way – right?

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Hey, have you heard about this Uber thing? On this episode, I’m looking at ride-hailing services – so-called public taxis versus newer, private app-based services such as Uber and Lyft (among many other players in the market). How do these services fit in to the urban transportation picture? Are the new private services the key to the gaps in our transportation system? Do they complement or harm the public taxi system, or the public transportation system for that matter?

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We urbanists know and have heard much laud for the humble bicycle as a key piece of the multimodal transportation puzzle. But who knew the bicycle was such a feminist?! In this episode, we explore the modern bicycle’s role in enabling the increase of women’s participation in democracy and local advocacy.

Image Courtesy of University of Virginia

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Note: I originally researched, wrote, and recorded this as episode 1 for release on November 9, 2016. And then…. Something unexpected happened and I scrapped the whole thing.

But hey, building off the momentum of the Women’s March this last weekend, this topic is still as relevant as ever and perhaps even more so than… back then.

So, I’ve re-recorded this episode – this time with a little less innocence and I think a bit more, mmm, presence.

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Another Note!: This episode frequently references Susan B. Anthony, the well-known women’s suffragist, who also happened to be on the record lauding the bicycle during the period of time I discuss in this episode. Let’s keep in mind here that she certainly wasn’t the only major actor in the women’s suffrage movement and Ms. Anthony must also bear some controversy with her name. I just wanted to make that clear. Onward!

Featured Music

“Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)” by Harry Dacre – This song was considered rather progressive at the time as it helped to normalize the image of a woman on a bicycle (with a male counterpart, of course).